According to various news reports, some 45 percent of United Methodist Conference (UMC) churches in Texas have left the oversight of the conference due to heretical stances on homosexuality and abortion. This is an indicator that Christians, at least in the Methodist denomination, are starting to wake up to the “woke” culture that goes against the Word of God. The Texas Tribune reports that last weekend “The Northwest Texas Annual Conference of United Methodist Churches started like a regular church service. Participants sang, took communion, then prayed before voting to split from the United Methodist Church, the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination.” Hundreds more churches are expected to follow.
Methodist churches in Arkansas and Indiana also have voted to leave the UMC this year. Many of the departing churches will likely join the Global Methodist Church, which is reportedly more conservative than UMC. The schism underscores disagreement on two main issues: abortion and homosexuality. The UMC does not condemn abortion as sin. In addition, it has embraced same sex marriage and homosexual pastors. LifeNews reports, “The split, organized by more conservative church members, comes after years of infighting that stems from the UMC’s more inclusive stances when it comes to congregants and its acceptance of gay marriage, abortion and other divides that mirror, and are likely to intensify, America’s broader, ongoing polarization.”
There are more underlying issues as well. Both my wife and I grew up in Methodist churches. From time to time when we return to Ohio, we attend Chris’s family church. It is a dwindling congregation. The UMC sends “pastors” who know virtually nothing about scripture and there is continuous extra-biblical interpretations where the Word of God is twisted into nonsense. Yet, there are loyal and God-fearing wonderful people that remain through the revolving door of these “pastors.” This unrelenting lack of scriptural understanding and politically-motivated teaching are the main reasons Chris and I left the Methodist church decades ago. Now, people in Southern churches are starting to do something about this apostacy.
The “Church” is intended to be the body of Christ here on earth. But when it teaches extra-biblical, emotional and self-indulgence and embraces doctrine that goes against the very precepts of God, it is time for a change. It’s one thing, for example, to welcome sinners to the cleansing blood and salvation of Christ. It’s yet another to embrace the sin as well as the sinner. Under no circumstance should the Word of God be twisted beyond its meaning. Titus Chapter 1 discusses this in detail. The apostle Paul writes in verse 9 that the church leaders must hold “fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.” If your church or pastor does not hold to sound doctrine, it’s time for a change. At least some in the Methodist church are not gonna take it anymore.
